Every year I release a blog in which I recommend some other Etsy shops that have nice gifts.  To spice things up, this year I have solicited suggestions from clients and friends.

Starting with the obvious, hand-made face masks are probably a perfect stocking stuffer of the season.  My client C. has bought several of these from Think Pink Bows, the masks are very reasonable and she says they wash well. 

I have bought masks also (no surprise there), most of mine are cat masks I found on Instagram, but I have also gotten some for my boyfriend who is a philosophy professor, and he wanted something clear for teaching.  I ordered a bunch of different ones but was most pleased with my all clear mask from SachikaBoutique.  It didn’t fog up, or not much, and fit very well.  However, keep in mind that when you breathe the mask comes in a little so you can’t wear it too snug.

I have also bought some bandana masks, which you can get many places, they are very easy to pull up when you encounter someone in the street, and double up as scarves during the colder season.  They also provide very full-face coverage down the neck and over to the ears.  I have found them great when I go on long bike rides where I need to breathe during the ride but can pull it up when I get off the bike for some reason.  They are also great for use in the gym because they are not too tight.

Now for some more fun suggestions.  Did you spend more time in your garden this spring and summer, because you couldn’t go anywhere?  Consider buying some seeds for your relatives as little gifts.  AshoGardens has a lot of different ones, they shipped fast, and starter seeds don’t require much expertise.  Growing them indoors is a nice activity for early spring!  You can get starter pods delivered to your door, and then literally watch the seedlings grow indoors (if you think about late March 2020, it was like that for a lot of us!).

If you like hanging plants, PotahtoHome makes very reasonably priced macramé hangers for indoor and outdoor use!  The shop owners are very communicative and deliver fast.

For garden and pottery home décor, my aunt B. has recommended AtHomeInTaos.  They have some interesting clay beads as well.

And Jackson Studios makes adorable sheep wool items, including home décor, stockings for stuffing, felted bowls, muffs and runners.

Garden Art Store offers lovely handmade steel garden or pottery accents, like this praying mantis or, if you are me, a cat!

Speaking of cats, I was given a ceramic cat from Mudrenko this spring,  and I absolutely love the simple and clean style.  I really like this very plain one.

Anyone exercising at home these days?  Try Vagabonds Goods Yoga for a very neat watercolor yoga mat.  Allow a little extra time for delivery.  I got the waterflower one and use it all the time.

For a gift off the beaten path, look at this unusual hand made shoe shop suggested by another client of mine.

One of my clients has bought a pair for under $100 on sale, hand made and very comfortable. I may just splurge for these asymmetric sandals next summer.

And now one more totally different suggestion.  Need a little DYI project to give to a friend or family member?  I would suggest making a holiday calendar, counting down December 1-25.  Those were always popular in Germany when I was a child.  You take a piece of rope or long ribbon, or make a felted background with some hooks, and package a little gift for each day: small bathroom items you can get in the travel aisle, small stationary things, chocolates, holiday socks, an ornament, or something funny.  Last year I bought a toilet light from Amazon that has different colors and other silly things like that.  If you are too lazy to put numbers on the gifts, then have the recipient pick a gift each day, reserving a bigger one for 25 – a gift card maybe, if you are into those.  If you make it small enough you can ship it and your loved one will think of you every day!

Etsy is a fantastic place to find customizable and one-of-a-kind holiday gifts, too!  Their search tool makes it easy to shop, and you can even filter your results by price or how quickly items ship.  Do you have pet lovers on your list?  Try typing "custom pet pillow" or "custom pet bowl" into their search bar.  And for some really one-of-a-kind gift ideas, Etsy is also a showcase for sellers of vintage, antique, and upcycled items.

I hope this helps you find something for those "hard to shop for" friends and relatives in your life 💕 

Enjoy and Happy Gifting!

A Selfish Guide to Gift Giving: A Gift for the Boyfriend, a Gift for Me, One for Mom, One for Me... 

Have you noticed this trend when doing holiday shopping?  You start shopping for the holidays and before you know it, you’ve spent more money on yourself than on other people!  And all the shops out there that are luring you in with their advertising are banking on this, too.  I almost never do Black Friday shopping, but this year I got soaps, some new clothes, a new laptop (for the office of course), and a washer and dryer set.  The latter was an unplanned gift to myself; the result of the unfortunate yet not ill-timed demise of both machines within just two days of each other.  At least I got a $600 rebate on the new ones!

Back to the subject of gifting.  As you may have noticed, we created a section in the shop for gifts under $200 for you.  We tried doing “gifts under $100” but the section was too small to bother.  Not much by way of stocking stuffers – if “under $100” can even count as that.  In my family that would be the main gift!  

Stocking stuffer-wise, I do have a couple of suggestions for you though: our new cleaning product is great, and for those of you who faithfully read our blog and have gotten to this paragraph, here’s a bonus for you:  If you’d like an extra polishing cloth or pad, just ask us and we will throw in another one at no charge.  They are quite handy!  

Another somewhat underappreciated gift in the lower price point of our shop is our earring jackets which come in both silver and gold.  They are super cute and rarely bought – I have no idea why:

Finally, our gold chains are currently very well priced because when we initially set those prices up, gold was $900 per ounce... now it’s at $1500!  Next year we will have to change our prices on those, but for now, they're a steal!

We are still working on adding a few silver pendants and silver stacking rings.  They should go up this weekend, as soon as we are finished coming out from under the sale we just had, which was quite successful if I may say so myself.  

Now, on to some recommendations I have from “not my shop,” a few of which fall squarely into the “gift to self” category, ahem.  

First off, let me flag the Etsy shop of my new graphic designer, Johanna Wood (her shop is Metal, Cloth & Wood), who makes lovely bug jewelry like these copper earrings with an etched ant motif:

I own one of her hand carved moth pins, which I pinned on my cloche hat, purchased from Artikal NYC, who also sells locally and offers hat making classes. 

Since I love art deco anything and everything, I purchased this clock for the office when the previous one bit the dust (it’s probably old fashioned to be into clocks but I love them):

Shipping for this item was very fast, and the seller also has this cat clock which I almost got instead:

I love all things cats!  Like I would totally buy these if I didn’t lose gloves too often: 

For a stocking stuffer that’s truly priced as such, I’ve purchased this shampoo soap:

I did stuff my own stocking though, as I am a frequent traveler and this soap beats having to put your shampoo into the suitcase or using those travel packs which I think are wasteful (they're more plastic than shampoo!)

My all-time favorite clothing seller on Etsy is Xiaolizi.  She lives and makes clothes in China, and will tailor anything to your size.  I’ve bought so many clothes from her that she has all of my information stored.  (There are periodic changes to size though, mostly upwards…).  Some of you may have seen me in my Tucson video wearing this dress in a red-orange color scheme: 

Or, for an LBD (little black dress) that would flatter almost any body type (it did wonders for mine), how pretty is this one?!

Xiaolizi’s dress care instructions suggest hand washing, but I toss them into the washer and dryer and so far they’ve all lasted better than a lot of commercially bought stuff!  They have even outlasted the washer and dryer itself, it appears...

On the more comfy side, I’ve gotten lots of use out of these cotton Gaucho pants; they wash well, they don’t shrink, and they are both flattering and comfortable: 

And I have been staring at this listing for weeks; I love it but I am not sure it would love me back: 

Actually, while we are on the subject of weight, I haven’t bought this but I got a kick out of it: 

For my philosophy friends, this one would make a great gift too: 

And I was thinking of giving this to my dentist Dr. Marian Farag, because I see her so often that I have suggested we should try having dinner sometime instead, it would be all the fun without the pain.  

I could go on, but I don’t shop as much for real handmade stuff on Etsy as I should, and I'm sure Amazon doesn’t need my help!

Happy shopping!